Millais was here

The photo shows the section of the Hogsmill River, near Kingston Upon Thames, which John Everett Millais used as the background for his painting "Ophelia" in 1852.

The photo was taken in August 2009, around the time of year when the picture was painted.
It was taken from the footbridge, facing north-west as the view south-east was highly reflective.

This year, 2010, information has been published suggesting that the area is correct.

The Hogsmill River at Old Malden, near Kingston Upon Thames

John Everett Millais made his famous painting "Ophelia" near Kingston Upon Thames, using a section of the Hogsmill River at nearby Old Malden as the model for the water. The river is little more than a ditch and is difficult to photograph due to the dappled sunlight, yet the mysterious effect that Millais noticed is still captured.

A contemporary account, attributed to the local vicar, suggests that the canvases were set up about 100 yards upstream, south-east, from the footbridge. It can be assumed that the location was the west bank, the area known as Six-Acre Meadow, the flow being from right to left in the painting.
Six-acre Meadow extends to Church Road in the east. The site chosen would be opposite the garden of the Manor House, which is adjacent to the church. It may be fair to assume that the artists were based at that house. The vicar mentions two men (Millais and Hunt) and states that they worked on the canvases for up to ten hours per day.

Shop girl Elizabeth Siddal appears in a self-portrait and as Ophelia.

Arthur Hughes lived latterly at Kew. He painted Ophelia twice, exhibiting in 1852 with John Everett Millais, then in 1865.

John Everett Millais was a Baronet and lived in town at Gower Street, where Ophelia was completed. William Holman Hunt appears to have been born in Ewell and would have known the area well - indeed, he wrote about it. His baptism was at St Giles Cripplegate and his father's occupation was given as "warehouse man".